Terry Pratchett's Discworld - Guards! Guards!

Publisher – Corgi

Published – My copy 1990

Price at the time - £6.99!

This is where the dragons went. They lie…not dead, not asleep, but dormant. And although the space they occupy isn’t like normal space, nevertheless they are packed in tightly. They could put you in mind of a can of sardines, if you thought sardines were huge and scaly. And presumably somewhere there’s a key…

Whenever people ask where a good place is to start with Discworld you can never get a straight answer. Some prefer chronologically (as this readalong would suggest I would struggle to support this); others go Mort (which isn’t too bad for a taster of what Pratchett can do); I’m quite a big fan of Wyrd Sisters (see previous review) or Small Gods (that joy is to come) but a common one as its one of the stronger threads in the series is Guards! Guards! As this commences the Watch strand and introduces us to probably my second favourite Discworld character Captain Vimes. Upon reading this its both a wonderful tribute to the crime genre and I can see signs of Pratchett further developing that social commentary that weirdly still chimes very well with the 2020s.

In Ankh-Morpork crime was privatised and now run by thieves hence the gradual reduction in size and influence of the City Watch. Down when the story starts to three officers with us meeting Captain Sam Vimes as he falls into the gutter drunk. But the world is about to change – a young six-foot dwarf named Carrot finds out he is actually human and is sent on his way to The Watch to make his way in life. A book is stolen from our friendly Librarian and a mysterious secret brotherhood (admittedly one of the many in the city) have decided with their ambitious leader there is a moment to get rid of the Patrician and gain power for the right people at last…which means themselves. Unfortunately, they are unaware that dragons may be helpful to start some chaos but a lot harder to shift. The Watch find themselves in the dragon’s sights and Vimes with his new heroic recruit encouraging him in ways he didn’t expect finds he wants to solve a case again.

Wow this turned into a delightful read. I would say there is a confidence here that Pratchett feels comfortable writing a longer tale with a bigger cast and isn’t worried about running various threads in their sub plots and yet its all contributing to a larger story. Until now we’ve really only had say two or three groups/characters but this time we get The Watch, The Patrician, Wonse, The Brotherhood and Sybil all having key sections of the story. The advantage of Ankh-Morpork over Lancre is the scale we can have; and the crime format allows like any good detective story for Pratchett to explore all levels of society. One reason the Watch works so well is they give us an opportunity to see how Ankh Morpork functions as they deal from those in power down to the lowest criminals in the Shades. This was the first novel where the city starts to feel the right size and you realise just how much there is to explore - which won’t half help future stories!

In terms of plot I’m intrigued that this time I realise its three quarters a crime novel; but the last quarter goes in a very different slightly sombre direction. The crime section while yes there are so so many jokes and magical beings is very solidly created – there is a clear tribute to the trope of the disgraced cop solving a case that his superiors want him to ignore with badge being handed in as standard. We find corruption at the top and Sam Vimes as the alcoholic and sarcastic detective pays tribute to both Dirty Harry and Sam Spades; there are clues, suspects and some actual investigation which Pratchett shows the working out for. Take the jokes and magic out you have a solid crime story regardless. Add that plus social commentary you get something rather brilliant.

In terms of characters there is an interesting angle to note that in earlier books Carrot would probably have been the main character – he fits the model we have seen in Mort and Pyramids of the young naive man shaking up a story but this time (similar to Granny) we get an older character slowly take back the stage. Carrot is in this story fun - his childlike letters to his parents oblivious to what may be going on but he’s not a lead – he may be a catalyst but not driving the story (yet). Vimes is more textured, flawed and interesting to watch. His alcoholism, his sarcasm, his upbringing and political views make him stand out even with he tropes he pays attention to. Just an interesting sig that Pratchett is now prepared to experiment more with different types of leading stars. Add into this mix we get the undynamic duo of Nobby and Sgt Colon – two people who should never be allowed near the police (or even want to) managing to be both incredibly stupid yet when the time comes prepared to create million to one chance to take down a dragon. These four characters create a really interesting dynamic where mix them up they always create fun scenes where they play off each other in different ways although not sure they quite match yet the Witches for complexity. One sad note – only one main female character in Sybil which compared to previous books is a step backwards but weirdly inclusion will end up a huge part of the future Watch…

Speaking of which we also get the final incarnation of the Patrician who also will loom large in future stories. Having a tyrant who can both play to the idea of a evil mastermind and yet also suggests he actually wants to do the right thing is a really interesting character and it’s probably a good thing we don’t yet spend too much time with him yet but the little reveals such as his self-designed cell and his final speech to Vimes all suggest someone who is much more interesting and unexpected. He also helps show us that the city is really many many factions vying for power and that sometimes gets out of hand – if only he had a trustworthy weapon to use against them…

That then allows us to talk about the social commentary that Pratchett talks about. The Brotherhood that we meet is petty, stupid and just greedy – but Pratchett shows that they and their leader who loves to use words to encourage the mob is still creating evil. A populist that says let’s give power to us not them sadly speaks just as well (probably even more) to me thirty years later. Selfishness can lead to greater horrors than any mastermind or dark lord. In fact on this re-read I was struck that in the final third we move away from to something different – we get Ankh-Morpork without any leader but a dragon and yet people fearfully deciding to make the best of a bad deal and start feeding themselves to dragons. An argument that people en masse and unsupervised won’t be prepared to stand up when they are afraid; and people can do harmful things when under pressure – bleak but not always shown to be false.

But let’s end on some jollity – the jokes here sizzle. We get latin tributes to Dirty Harry, visual gags of the million to one shot and so so many good lines – sometimes with characters displaying wit and others mass stupidity. That confidence is shown here as Pratchett doesn’t mind a series moving from funny to poignant to sad in the turn of a page (as always look on twitter for #DiscworldReads for some gems)

I loved how this story takes that right turn from crime to something a little harder edged saying humans aren’t perfect. In fact, justifying why the Watch will be needed again. It got a perfect mix of setting, characters and plots that hints at the next phase of the Discworld beginning to show itself. For me the mix of humour and story and politics really sing – there were times I’m just reading this smiling and just impressed with the way its structured. The only interesting thing to note though is many of the future Watch novels will be even better but this is still alone an excellent read

Next time – grab the popcorn its Moving Pictures!